"Thank God"

"Thank God"....This a favorite expression of my grandmother. To my remembrance never was God's name uttered casually, tritely. She meant it every time. To say "Thank God" was to rightly attribute everything as gift from Someone she knew with as much, or even more, certainty as the presence of her grandson that drank Salada tea with her. Yes, for her "Thank God" was a default response to everything because her grandson realized she knew that the reason her arthritis wasn't even worse than it was was only due to God's grace; that even in her material poverty she possessed riches---her cold-water flat, the begonias that sat on her windowsills, her cat, her grandchildren, her two sons, the pigeons that would gather at her door for their daily bread. But most of all she was grateful for God. And of course this faith in the Father of all fueled all her thanksgivings that found their primal expression in "Thank God.